Million Dollars Damages Awarded Former Altar Boy In Abuse Case

WATERBURY, Conn. (AP) _ A jury has ruled that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford should pay $1 million in damages to a former altar boy who was sexually abused by a priest decades ago.

The Hartford Courant reports the Superior Court jury in Waterbury delivered the verdict Friday after about three and a half hours of deliberations.

The jury found the archdiocese was reckless and negligent in its handling of the priest, Ivan Ferguson.

The victim presented evidence that Ferguson was allowed contact with children in the early 1980s despite admitting earlier that he had sexually abused other boys.

A lawyer for the archdiocese said the abuse was despicable. But he said Ferguson was allowed to resume contact with children only after church experts concluded he could control his attraction to boys.
___
Information from: The Hartford Courant, http://www.courant.com